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Subject:PreSonus Problems
Date:6/2/2009 12:55:59 AM

Anyone having problems with PreSonus products?
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: SHTUNOT
Date:6/3/2009 12:56:52 PM

Yes,

It would take too long to explain. I got a echo audiofire 4 and it solved my problems.

Ed.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Cheye
Date:6/3/2009 7:15:08 PM

What kind of problems are you having and with what presonus product? More details would be great???

Thanks

cheye
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Tom B
Date:6/4/2009 10:11:52 AM

I have the FireStudio Project (8 preamps via firewire). 'Works great with Acid Pro 7.

But it hates YouTube and most other online multimedia. Just lays down and croaks after about ten seconds of streaming.

So, what problem(s) are you having?
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Cheye
Date:6/4/2009 12:03:44 PM

I have the older FirePod(8 pre's) and I've never tried it on YouTube but it works great with Acid 7. I'd be interested to hear from more people who are using Presonus especially if you are having problems.

Cheye
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/4/2009 2:36:23 PM

Oh man...where to begin?

A little history first:
I've used AcidPro7 with a Presonus Firebox on four OS so far(XP, XP64, Vista, and Vista64). It worked well for XP64 and nearly perfect for XP. Then my computer went critical. My large CPU cooling fan broke off of it's base and crashed down upon my motherboard and video card. I made repairs but it wasn't the same again and died shortly thereafter. So I bought another PC with Vista32. HaHaHa everyone laugh at the idiot. That computer sucked. The DVD drive started sounding like a chainsaw right away so I returned it. After being treated like a criminal for returning the computer, I was able to walk away with a new, more powerful machine. This time with Vista64. HaHaHa, laugh at the idiot again. This is when the nightmare began.

1. PC w/ XP64 using Presonus Firebox and AcidPro7 worked good.

2.PC w/ XP using Presonus Firebox and AcidPro7 worked best

3.PC w/ Vista32 using Presonus Firebox and AcidPro7 worked poorly.( mainly audio drop-outs during playback. The sound would just vanish randomly and reappear without missing a beat. Also, glitchy "enter the Matrix" type of sounds when accessing menus such as right-clicking on a track.

4. PC w/ Vista64 using Presonus Firebox and AcidPro7 is like explosive diarrhea.(same problems as Vista32 but magnified. When the sound drops out it doesn't return. Often my projects won't play at all. I push play and nothing happens. No sound, no cursor movement, nothing. I restart the computer and it works again or not but always with the "Matrix" sounds. Today, I experimented with those sounds. I right-clicked on a track but left the menu open and scrolled around with the mouse and it froze).

I'm ready to gouge my own eyes out. I've used AcidPro for a long time but this has me stumped. My system has been down for over a week.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/4/2009 2:43:19 PM

I wanted to add that it seems the Firebox loses sync without giving any indication on the LED located at the front of the unit. Other people are having the same problem. There is a lot of blaming going on. Any advice is welcome.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/4/2009 2:51:36 PM

SHTUNOT,

What OS are you using?
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Cheye
Date:6/5/2009 2:55:17 AM

I'm using xp on an xpc built by Les Bateman. I wonder if this issue is only related to the firebox or if it is also related to the firepod? Have you heard Firepod people complaining about the same issue as you have. The Firebox and Firepod are much the same thing. I know I have experienced issues with my UAD-1 card not performing well in Acid but doing well in Cubase. When the UAD-1 card fills up with plugs, in needs much higher settings of latency to function properly and yes, some glitching going on when 60% used or higher. Maybe, this is presonus related???? Who knows and who will admit??? Very hard to get straight answers for sure. Anymore info is very useful and could help many people both with Presonus products or looking to purchase an audio interface. I know that in the seminar series for Acid Pro 6 and 7 they use a Firepod and FP10 which I think are the same thing. Probably on xp.

What audio interface with 8 pre's is excellent and working well with many apps including Acid 7? HMMMMMM. Let us know.

Cheye
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/5/2009 5:49:27 AM

Cheye,

Yes, people with fp10 are having these problems as well. I still say that this is related to PreSonus drivers for Vista. If you are on XP and your system is running stable you probably don't have much to worry about. However, should your computer suffer a catastrophic failure you might find yourself stuck with an interface that has nasty compatibilty issues. This is when it pays to:

A. Know how to build your own PC
B. To own your own full version of XP as I do.

The Vista thing just doesn't seem worth it to me but it is getting harder to find store bought PCs with XP. My PreSonus setup was very stable with XP, nearly 100% of the time. Stability is absolutely key when recording on computers. I'm going to switch back to XP. I would have built my own PC but I had a show within a week and I needed access to my tracks, so I bought one at the store instead. Everything there was Vista and worse yet 64bitVista.

I've learned a valuable lesson in all of this craziness. When you are buying an audio interface keep the future in mind. Computers die all of the time. Find an interface that is stable and versatile enough to let you bounce back quickly even with a new computer and possibly a new OS. Also, make sure the manufacturer has a solid support team.

One more thing:

A good friend of mine has the PreSonus Firetube. A while back we were recording vocals when the signal suddenly became distorted, almost out of phase. We tested the cables and the mics and all was well. The problem disappeared and came back again randomly. This is another problem being reported. I'm not saying PreSonus makes a crap product but as a musician I think it is important to inform other musicians.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/5/2009 6:05:56 AM

Anyone hear anything about the Line6 UX2 interface? It doesn't give you a ton of imputs but it's about 200$ and comes with a bunch of software. For someone like me who only needs about 2-4 inputs and MIDI for my beat lab it could be a winner. I think it's USB but I'm not sure. Check it out.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/5/2009 6:30:44 AM

As if I haven't written enough already, here is an update on my quest.

The people at Presonus still haven't gotten back to me about my Firebox problem but to be fair I should give them a little more time. Still, its not exactly plug and play is it.

Last night I buried my pride and installed a M-Audio Fasttrack Pro. I'm not a fan of these because I've seen them fail with my own two eyes. I've even had friends come over to my house with these to troubleshoot them for people they know. Trouble aside, I do recall getting them working on every occasion. So I went to the M-Audio website, downloaded the Vista64 drivers, plugged it in, and the damn thing worked right away. Not one hitch. I was totally surprised. I even did a little recording. Can't argue with that. It did exactly what it was supposed to. Finally some good luck!

The Strange Part:

I get the glitchy "matrix" sounds when using the M-Box as well which would suggest that this problem is not related to the audio interface. So I have a combination of problems....great!

Another strange part:

My Firebox seems to work better plugged into the firewire port at the front of the computer. I moved a bunch of gear around and tried it. It seemed more consistent. An IRQ problem? I dunno!
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Cheye
Date:6/5/2009 11:58:51 AM

Many issues and problems and I suppose there always will be. Presonus may be one of the companies that has fewer issues, who knows? They have come recommended by many. What about RME? Anyone using these? A very good reputation. Also, you could try buying a music built PC, more money, but they usually all use XP, since they are aware of the Vista issues with audio.

Thank you for spending much of your time posting, and I'm sure this is helpful for others, who may be trying to problem solve issues with interfaces, OS's, store built boxes etc.

cheye
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: SHTUNOT
Date:6/5/2009 1:21:23 PM

Magnificent Butcher,

Hey dude I am using Vista 64 ultimate SP 2...at the time of all my problems I was using SP1.

My problems are EXACTLY as yours! I also had other weird issues but it's been so long I can't remember them all.

Again I fixed it by buying a echo Audiofire 4.

Ed.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/25/2009 10:56:02 AM

Problem Solved!

I am now confident that the long nightmare is finally over. I've been testing my Firebox over and over again with no failures. Recording, playback, and midi seem to be working flawlessly. Here is what I did:

1. Optimized my computer for streaming audio using the guide written by sweetwater.com.

2. Uninstalled all Presonus drivers and software including deleting all PreSonus files out the registry using instructions provided by PreSonus tech support.

3. Disabled WLAN and then physically disconnected it from the motherboard.

4. My computer has two built in firewire ports. The front port was connected to the motherboard via a short cable. I physically disconnected this cable from the motherboard.

5. I purchased a PCI Express(1x) firewire 400 card with a Texas Instruments chipset. The exact brand is Inland Pro PCI Express(1x) 4 port 1394A. The firewire card has a power port. I connected the power port to the same line connected to the DVD drive. I'm not sure if this matters but I'm trying to document EXACTLY what I did. The firewire card does not require any drivers to work. It came with a disk with some B.S. video editing software that I didn't install.

6. I powered up my computer and disabled the onboard firewire in the device manager leaving only the new firewire card enabled.

7. I installed the Firebox drivers from the original disk that came with my unit(v1.20.0). I had good results from these drivers in the past which may be because I am using XPsp2.

8. I connected the Firebox when prompted to by the software installer.

9. Restarted the computer with the Firebox connected and all is well.






By the way:

The Inland firewire card cost me 30.00$

My computer specs are:
HP a6745f desktop
Dual core AMD 5050e 2.6 GHz
XP sp2
4 GigsRAM (3.25 because I'm using XP)

If you are confused at the store about whether a firewire card uses a Texas Instruments chipset. Try to get a look at the card. You should see a chip marked with the TI logo: The state of Texas w/ Ti. YeeeeeeeHawwwww!
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: Bremen Cole
Date:6/25/2009 1:50:54 PM

Makes sense. I have heard of people having problems with non-TI firewire before. Also some motherboards cause problems as well.

We users tend to blame software for any issues we have. We blame Windows when we have a crash, Web browser when a page doesn't load right or Word for not catching a misspelled word. We also plug dozens of third party VST's and VSTi's into a music app, have various interfaces, soundcards, motherboards, drivers. keyboards....etc..... but if anything goes wrong we tend to blame Acid/Sonar/Cubase....etc.... It's just the way we all are, and it drives the DAW vender crazy!

Glad you got it working! And I bet your detailed post helps someone out there.....
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: kitekrazee
Date:6/25/2009 8:13:15 PM

I'm running an Inspire 1394 off an onboard VIA chipset and for some reason it seems pretty stable for me.

This is what I have on this system.

Asus M2N-SLI
AMD x2 6400

Other audio devices

Echo Mia
AP 2496

My Inspire is the default sound in Windows. It's been pretty trouble free.

On another system I have

Intel DG33u
QC 6600

Audio devices
AP 192
FW 410

The FW 410 is running of an onboard TI chipset. This one has odd behavior. I don't know if it 's because I run this in Sonar using WDM drivers and all other apps use ASIO. It's also the default Windows sound. There are times when there is no sound coming out and I have to open up Sonar to get it back working.

From my experience if you want good reliable audio, go with PCI cards until more vendors put out PCI-X cards. PCI cards are superior to most USB and FW devices.

An RME 9632 is $500, about the same price as some of those Presonus FW units. As for performance there's really no comparison.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Date:6/25/2009 10:26:37 PM

Ha Ha

I used to have the same mobo and processor as you Asus M2n sli and you are right. It worked great for me(pure luck). It just so happens that those mobos are great for streaming audio devices. I was unaware when I bought it. You've had bad performance from a TI chipset? I guess that means there is no one size that fits all. It would be nice if the consumer could get consistent results.
Subject:RE: PreSonus Problems
Reply by: kitekrazee
Date:6/26/2009 11:22:46 AM

"I used to have the same mobo and processor as you Asus M2n sli and you are right. It worked great for me(pure luck). It just so happens that those mobos are great for streaming audio devices. I was unaware when I bought it. You've had bad performance from a TI chipset? I guess that means there is no one size that fits all. It would be nice if the consumer could get consistent results."

That's a great board, I've also got a M3N series with a BE quad and for over clocking I've seen better results with the M2N-SLI. That's just some needless trivia for you.

I don' t have bad performance from a TI chipset. It's just that one little quirk.


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